Peralta Hacienda Ribbon-Cutting

Date: June 5, 2013
Contact: Holly Alonso of Peralta Hacienda, 510-532-9142
Contact: 415-623-2344

Ribbon-Cutting of Anza Trail Improvements at Peralta Hacienda Brings Together City, Regional, State & National Parks

Juneteenth Celebration, Mexica Dancers Showcase Oakland’s Multiculturalism

MEDIA ADVISORY

WHAT:  
Ribbon cutting for Anza Trail improvements at Peralta Hacienda: new Healing Garden, Recreation Trail, and Amphitheater during “Juneteenth at Peralta Creek”

WHEN: 
Saturday, June 22, 2PM (Juneteenth celebration follows: 2PM - 6PM)

WHERE: 
Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Ave, Oakland (Fruitvale District)

VISUALS:  
Ribbon Cutting with backdrop of Mexica Dancers and Juneteenth performers

WHO:   
Noel Gallo, District 5 Representative, Oakland City Council
Friends of Negro Spirituals
Mexica Dancers
 
Representatives from Peralta Hacienda Historical Park and the National Park Service
 

DETAILS:  

This year's Juneteenth at Peralta Creek celebration kicks off with a ribbon-cutting for a "healing garden", creekside amphitheater, Anza Trail waysides, and Oakland's newest recreation trail at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, the “birthplace of Oakland.”

These events at the Peralta Hacienda in Oakland's Fruitvale District promote the park's mission of historical healing by acknowledging both the pain and the glories of the past that make us what we are today.

Following a ribbon-cutting beside the healing garden and Anza Trail waysides, Mexica Dancers will lead a dance procession along a new recreation trail down to a new creekside amphitheater for the Juneteenth celebration.

These new park improvements represent a convergence of city, regional, state, and national parks. The recreation path and amphitheater were funded by the Recreation Trails program of the State of California. The Anza Trail waysides along the path were developed by the East Bay Regional Park District and the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail, a unit of the National Park Service. The Peralta Hacienda is a certified site along the Anza Trail, which commemorates the 1776 expedition that brought Spanish-speaking settlers— including the Peraltas—to California.

Juneteenth at Peralta Creek

A Juneteenth at Peralta Creek celebration follows at Peralta Hacienda's new creekside amphitheater from 2PM - 6PM. Oakland City Council Member Noel Gallo will lead the ceremonies, which include:

• Friends of Negro Spirituals, leading the audience in “Wade in the Water” and other favorites
• Master storyteller Malcolm Westbrooks, with tales of his childhood wandering the safe, clean creeks of Fruitvale after his family arrived from the South
• In a related art installation inside the Peralta House, Walter Hood’s StoryHorse immerses you in the voices of Oakland's African Americans.

Juneteenth celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation, which helped end one of US history's most painful chapters. The event will also pay homage to the Black Native experience and the waterways and special landscape of the East Bay.

Don’t miss this glimpse of the past, opening of an important new resource at the Birthplace of Oakland, and present-day fun with historical arts and crafts for kids, and lots of other music.

Admission is free. The event takes place Saturday June 22, 2-6pm at Peralta Hacienda Historical Park, 2465 34th Ave. Call 532-9142 for more info or go to www.peraltahacienda.org.

###

For more about the Anza Trail visit the new online Anza Trail experience at http://www.AnzaHistoricTrail.org